A special tribute to filmmaker Leon Hirszman (1938-1987), directed by a personal friend of his, this documentary presents Hirszman's views on cinema and his films. He was a key
figure in the Cinema Novo movement along with Glauber Rocha, Cacá Diegues, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Arnaldo Jabor and a few others, which caused a major turn-around
in the world of movies with their artistic contributions that crossed barries and conquered the cinema world. This project presents the man through his own personal
views and no talking heads appear here, it's a fantastic gathering of his interviews and audios in between the 1960's and 1980's, showcasing his career, his movies (only five
features) shorts and documentaries and the importance cinema had in his life and also in society.
Most of Hirszman's films are concerned about social and cultural issues from Brazil and the man covered everything and everywehre basically,
from autoworkers in classics such as "They Don't Wear Black-Tie" and "ABC da Greve" to more intimate issues from common people as in "A Falecida" or "São Bernardo". As
for his short films besides dealing the chanting series, he followed the Partido Alto samba movement, the decline of Brazilian cinema being ignored due to the foreign
market invasion, documentaries about the big metropolis of the nation and even ecological themes.
To fans or future curious minds this a fine achievement about a man's legacy through his body of work, there are countless clips from his feature and short films;
it's really fascinating to hear him talking about the filmmaker's role in society and what attracted him to all the projects he made, how he approached each time, and
also the deserved recognition he got from Venice Film Festival when he released "They Don't Wear Black-Tie" - if I'm not mistaken he's the only Brazilian director
to ever win some prize there. He was a very articulate man, soft-spoken and someone who use the cinema to point the social contrasts of Brazilians, specially about the
underprivileged and the working man daily dilemas and obstacles. Here, we have the chance to get some glimpses of some of his unfinished projects such as an international
concert by Caetano Veloso (which sadly does not contain sound, so the director used Hirszman's interviews to cover up for the silence).
That last thing I put in parenthesis can be a matter of criticism to some viewers since there are many gaps revolving some of the author's film/documentaries
where the soundtrack registers were lost but the filmmakers decided to show it anyway, and that can be problematic since some sequences are just dead air. To me, it was
distracting and almost made me lost interest in seeing it. Other than that, the documentary works quite alright and I just wished that someone had interviewed Hirszman
while he was making "ABC da Greve", which is an amazing documentary that only got completed after his death, so it's very unlikely that he gave some word to media
about a then upcoming project. Artists like him are near extinction these days, and hearing his thoughts and views on film and everything just improved my admiration
for him. 7/10.
